Serie A wrap: Juve cruise, Roma impress

Juventus maintained their winning start to the Serie A season by cruising to a 4-1 victory over Udinese at the Stadio Friuli on Sunday.

Arturo Vidal opened the scoring from the penalty spot 14 minutes after Udinese goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic had been shown a straight red card for taking out Sebastian Giovinco.

Mirko Vucinic doubled Juve’s advantage just before the interval with a sublime finish before strike partner Giovinco tapped in to make it 3-0 early in the second half.

The latter then doubled his tally in emphatic style, firing home from just inside the area on 71 minutes, rendering Andrea Lazzari’s late strike a mere consolation.

Roma announced themselves as possible title contenders with an impressive 3-1 victory over Inter Milan at the Giuseppe Meazza

Francesco Totti was the star of the show at San Siro, setting up Alessandro Florenzi for the opener before creating a second for Pablo Osvaldo – who was sent off late on for a second bookable offence – after Inter had drawn level with a deflected effort from new boy Antonio Cassano.

Roma then put the seal on a fine win when substitute Marquinho, who had come on during the first half for the injured Daniele De Rossi, fired home with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Lazio eased to a 3-0 win over Palermo to move up third courtesy of two predatory strikes from German marksman Miroslav Klose and another from Antonio Candreva.

The hosts always looked good value for the three points a week after Napoli punished Palermo in similar fashion.

Napoli scraped past Fiorentina to maintain their faultless record and stay in the top three.

Montenegrin international Stevan Jovetic struck three minutes from time for Fiorentina, who missed several earlier opportunities, after Napoli had gone two goals to the good, with a Marek Hamsik header going in off Borja Valero and Blerim Dzemaili also scoring.

Catania edged Genoa 3-2 in a thriller thanks to Francesco Lodi’s late free kick after Gonzalo Bergessio’s double had put them up 2-1 earlier on.

Cagliari shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw with 10-man Atalanta, who were denied the win by Albin Ekdal in stoppage time after the home side had also missed two penalties.

Daniel Gastaldello scored the winner for Sampdoria in a 2-1 victory over Siena to keep their unbeaten record intact while Parma ran out comfortable 2-0 victors over Chievo.